Typical inventory, track and trace, inspection, authentication, and related applications utilize serialized data that identifies each item within a population of items. The serialized data is often written to a machine readable tag or marker attached to each item or integrated within each item in the population. The machine readable tag or marker may include a radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, a bar code, a label, or other suitable device capable of indicating serialized data for each item in the population. Regarding RFID systems, while they continue to provide improved reading and reliability characteristics, there is no assurance that is made by design that all RFID chips in a population within the range of an RFID reader will be captured. Correspondingly, bar code systems can miss reading bar code labels if, for example, the labels are damaged, wet, stretched, or visually obstructed. This missing or unreadable serialized data for items within a population may create a barrier to implementing applications that rely on a 100% read rate of the serialized data for items within a population.
For these and other reasons, a need exists for the present invention.